tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82048209275659563992024-02-20T14:03:17.900-05:00Detroit Television SucksA blog on how Detroit television stations fail their viewership; feel free to comment here and tell the world how Detroit TV has failed you.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-82191622770975420252024-01-13T08:22:00.003-05:002024-01-13T08:22:35.837-05:00WDIV subchannel 4.3: We Don't Care About What You Want to Watch<p> January 13, 2023: it's windy, and it's going to be really cold for the next few days, so apparently WDIV thinks that turning off MeTV to show their ongoing storm coverage THAT IS CURRENTLY ON REGULAR 4.1. Maybe they're having issues geting the MeTV feed and are dumping the main feed into the sub hannel, but if so there should be some sort of on screen alert about it; without it, I'm going to just assume they're screwing over everyne who actually wants to watch Saturday morning cartoons on Saturday morning because they don't care about the audience. Do better, jerkwads.<br /></p>Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-82666482965796470632012-06-04T15:15:00.001-04:002012-06-04T15:15:16.326-04:00WDIV: "We believe everything we hear" editionThe link says it all: <br />
http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/640/wdiv_terrifies_parents_with_thoroughly_debunked_vodka_tampon_storyTedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-75137371104566301662012-03-15T20:05:00.006-04:002012-03-15T20:18:29.851-04:00WDIV still sucks EditionHey, a storm went through earlier. So what does WDIV do? They continue their coverage into the return of Community! Who makes Detroit television suck? The answer is once again, as it is so very often, WDIV.<br /><br />See people hating WDIV on Facebook:<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150674772558184&set=a.10150674771408184.419690.76613428183&type=1">http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150674772558184&set=a.10150674771408184.419690.76613428183&type=1</a><br /><br />And they just turned it on halfway through the episode. Meaning they are uninterested in showing us the entire episode. We should give it right back to them. Every time we can.<br /><br />WDIV must be replaced.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-55446038630150062652011-08-26T00:15:00.000-04:002011-08-26T00:15:01.044-04:00WJBK: Kiss WIth a Fist EditionJanuary, 2009. WJBK, Fox 2's morning show was running fluff re: Obama's forthcoming inauguration. It's a morning show, it's not news. And Deena Centofanti is in the segment, and that helps me give things quite a lot of slack usually. But then we get this.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoReNb4Yhec&fmt=18<br /><br />The trouble isn't the funnyness. That was awesome. I actually saw this live, and it was jaw on the floor funny. The trouble lies in Dr. Terri Orbach, The Love Doctor. While she was being touted as a relationship expert, not a sex doctor as such, the idea that you could be promoting someone as a relationship expert who is so distanced from sexual knowledge that she doesn't know what fisting is constitutes a slap in the face to the idea that relationships involve sex. That Detroit television was promoting such a person as a relationship expert was what sucked.<br /><br />On the plus side, Deena obviously knew the score, and made sure to clarify by bumping fists later in the segment (which was also funny, but doesn't seem to be in the YouTube clips).Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-71330123733851287002011-07-26T12:33:00.000-04:002011-07-26T12:33:00.432-04:00WDIV: A Guy From Survivor Can Bump Network Programming EditionWDIV's Marla Drutz was proud to ditch network programming December 2009 for a film from Keith Famie (that Detroit area chef from Survivor) called "Detroit - Our Greatest Generation".<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=375589#p375589">http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=375589#p375589</a><br /><br />The impression I get from that post is it was decided over a weekend in October 2010 to bump a Wednesday's prime time programming for a repeat of the show. But perhaps that was spin somewhere along the line.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-36309808217436259432011-06-26T12:50:00.000-04:002011-06-26T12:50:00.152-04:00WJBK: Disgraced (Journalist?) EditionThe trouble with Fanchon Stinger was not that she was a corrupt journalist. It's that Detroit television (and print) treats a news reader as a journalist.<br /><br />http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=30274Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-18013616693288019152011-06-04T15:49:00.000-04:002011-06-04T15:04:38.964-04:00WXON: The Babylon Project Was Their Best Hope to Not SuckToday we have a blast from the TV past. Channel 20, WXON at the time (now WMYD), ran the syndicated Babylon 5. It was the only worthwhile show on the station in the mid-'90s. It ran Tuesdays at 8... for awhile.<br /><br />In September 1996, they moved it to 1Am Saturday nights. This wasn't a problem for me at the time; it followed Saturday Night Live, and I wasn't old enough for that to be a problem. Plus, the VCR could catch it. It wasn't about to get any new viewers at that time slot, of course, and that was sad, but it was workable.<br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/browse_thread/thread/a48f86ccd50e4b5a/2eba2fea1fc71706?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#2eba2fea1fc71706">http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/browse_thread/thread/a48f86ccd50e4b5a/2eba2fea1fc71706?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#2eba2fea1fc71706</a><br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/browse_thread/thread/7432dbc86867b2cd/350e943b373ea05c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#350e943b373ea05c">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/browse_thread/thread/7432dbc86867b2cd/350e943b373ea05c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#350e943b373ea05c</a><br /><br />And then, without warning, for the climactic episodes of a season of war, before anyone at all had DVRs and programmable channel guides that followed their shows, before people had YouTube or Hulu or even torrents, WXON changed the show to 4AM Friday night/Saturday morning. That's right; changed it, without notice, to a time before it would normally have aired, to a timeslot that no one was likely to check. For a key episode. The episode was even named "Endgame".<br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/browse_thread/thread/3ecdaafbaef3cd62/442d09da16e8fa8f?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#442d09da16e8fa8f">http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/browse_thread/thread/3ecdaafbaef3cd62/442d09da16e8fa8f?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20#442d09da16e8fa8f</a><br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/browse_thread/thread/1158df9d2db61e2/35ce7537495f2fad?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20&pli=1">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/browse_thread/thread/1158df9d2db61e2/35ce7537495f2fad?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22babylon+5%22+detroit+channel+20&pli=1</a><br /><br />I guess programmers expect no one to remember that kind of treatment of viewers.<br /><br />It's 13 years on, and I still remember it.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-81856642408896455972011-04-21T20:31:00.002-04:002011-04-21T20:33:52.476-04:00WDIV: Not Mad About You EditionThe Paul Reiser Show premiered last week. But WDIV is pre-empting the second episode with a weather fear mongering special hosted by Chuck Gaidica. Chuck sounds like he's never read text out loud before.<br />Hope Paul Reiser wasn't hoping for any momentum in Detroit. Because Marla Drutz's reign certainly won't allow it.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-5225328954503767092011-04-11T19:40:00.003-04:002011-04-11T19:46:52.137-04:00WDIV: If You're Young, We Hate You EditionChuck should be on at 8PM tonight with a new episode. At least that's where it is in the rest of the country. WDIV would prefer to have a half hour car ad for the new Ford Focus (possibly). Because... well, because if you like Chuck, they don't care about you. Cetainly not as much as if they can get a few bucks for a prime time infomercial.<br />Channel 4, you know you're making people hate you, right?Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-26566910399652645682011-02-10T19:48:00.002-05:002011-02-10T19:51:53.756-05:00WDIV: We Think You Need A Heart, But We Have No Brain EditionAh, the miserable folks (maybe that should just kinda sound like folks) at WDIV have once again decided to pre-empt Community in favor of their worthless local programming. "All 4 Valentines Day". Community's on at 2:05 AM instead, after theyve shown a half hour if infomercials after Fallon.<br />I hope their lovers leave them Monday.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-35116938830278444342011-02-02T07:53:00.003-05:002011-02-02T09:13:53.676-05:00WJBK: Because You Can't Completely Manufacture Quotes On Video EditionSo Fox 2 has foisted a print reporter (he has claimed he's not a journalist, because journalists don't keep it real) on to Detroit's airwaves. On paper, this sounds like a good idea; tv news is not very newsy, the reporter has won a Pulitzer, and has worked for the NYT and the Detroit News.<br /><br />But paper and practice aren't the same thing. The reporter is Charlie LeDuff, who comes across as a noir caricature of a hard hitting reporter, from his spectral junkie look to his dime novel narrative style to a completely non-news feature story beat where he appears to be trying to create the appearance of sincerity and to be "of the people" which comes across as smarmy at best and always strikes me as simply a function of the role he's trying to play (and I mean that in the sense that it's melodramatic acting).<br /><br />His big local story? Homeless guy frozen in ice. But there is <a href="http://www2.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=13739">controversy about how the situation was presented by him</a>.<br /><br />That Pulitizer? It was given to a series of articles on race in the NYT that LeDuff contributed to. Which doesn't mean it's a false claim, but it's not quite so rosy as it sounds.<br /><br />And after that Pulitzer? Questions were raised about <a href="http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/malkin200312171508.asp">issues of plagiarism and fabricated quotes in Charlie LeDuff's stories</a>, similar to the NYT's Jayson Blair fiasco. Then even more <a href="http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/los-angeles-river-rises">issues</a> were publicly pointed outafter the NYT era issues were raised <a href="http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/rolling-nowhere">from a January 1995 article he wrote for the East Bay Monthly called The Last American Hobo, wherein passages were lifted from Ted Conover's 1984 book Rolling Nowhere</a>.<br /><br />None of which would matter too much if his work was solid on channel 2. But there he is, appearing like an annoying parody of something I'm not sure ever existed in a real form. It's like a "problem solver" with a different mask. I'm not sure it's any less annoying.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-34466763706677867612010-11-11T22:49:00.003-05:002010-11-11T23:03:07.052-05:00WJBK: Let It Bleed EditionChannel 2 tonight continues their slant on the story. They had the mother of the accuser on absolving channel 2 (and herself) of any wrongdoing. Good job there, channel 2, good job. On the plus side, we can now say it was Taryn Asher who was responsible for the story. Legal analyst Charlie Langton is conservative about how to proceed, making him the most sensible person paid by WJBK, and Brian Dickerson is raking them over the coals for doing a crappy job of protecting their source, and actually is bringing up the unsubstantiated forcible rape issue. Huel Perkins seems like he's about to cry while whispering "we didn't do anything wrong."<br /><br />Oh, and they were dangling more "someone else we won't identify is coming forward to accuse the accused for the same thing", without explaining what they mean by "same thing", and without any sort of substantiation. It seems to be at best a rumor. Channel 2 hasn't learned a damned thing. Detroit tv still sucks.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-33417601107008435762010-11-11T10:45:00.005-05:002010-11-11T11:46:03.331-05:00WJBK: Make it Bleed So It Can Lead EditionShort version: statutory rape case between a senior and a freshman in high school seems to be brought to the cops by a venom spewing mother; cops proceed with the case. Mother seems to take the story to Fox 2 and appears on TV with her daughter (daughter's face blurred out) to make accusations of forcible rape, which had not been what had been previously claimed to the police. The piece named and showed the 18 year old who was now being accused on TV of forcible rape (which the police decline to pursue due to sketchiness of the changed story and because the text message evidence that had supported the existence of a statutory rape case also clearly supported the idea that the sex involved was consensual). After being accused of forcible rape, the accused responded that the accuser was a liar. Other classmates of the accused and accuser reportedly "bullied" the accuser after Fox 2 put her on the air to make accusations of a malum in se crime instead of the malum prohibitem crime that was in the prosecutorial pipe. Accuser commits suicide.<br /><br />What the supposed bullying consisted of is unclear; it's the hot media topic at the moment, and pretty much anything is being classed as bullying. Although I haven't seen anyone yet class being falsely accused of forcible rape as bullying; I kinda think that should count more than most of the things classed in the media as bullying. And if you are raked over the coals for making what on the evidence is a false accusation of forcible rape, should that raking be considered bullying? If so, then shouldn't being accused if forcible rape in the media, even if true, be considered bullying?<br /><br />Fox 2 this morning was harping on the "bullying" and Kam Carmen was harping on about "it was still statutory, he should go to prison!" in her irritating prissy little way. No mention of the bullying only occurring after the Fox 2 story and its imbalanced outing of an accused and not the accuser, which, even ignoring the patent unfairness of outing the one and not the other, forced the accused to out his accuser and would have allowed their peers to know what was going on anyway from the story. No hint of the idea that being consumed by guilt over making a false accusation of an extremely serious crime could have led to the suicide. No hint that the mother of the accuser appeared to be the instigator behind the pursuit of charges (and that if that's the case, she would be the likely person to look for to a false escalation in what was accused), and that maybe she should be held responsible in the court of public opinion for her daughter's suicide.<br /><br />So why does Detroit tv suck in this instance?<br />1) Fox 2 appears to protect the identities of anyone making an accusation of rape, but not the identity the accused, even when the evidence points to the accusation being false.<br />2) Fox 2 is willing to publicize allegations which do not appear based on fact.<br />3) Fox 2 publicizes a story which can reasonably be foreseen to lead to identification of the accuser they are purporting to "protect" by making semi-anonymous allegations.<br />4) Fox 2 is reporting widespread outrage over the apparent falsity of allegations not as a legitimate reaction to such a disgusting thing, but as the hot media topic of bullying.<br /><br /><br />Brian Dickerson puts the whole thing together at<br /><a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20101111/COL04/11110609/1001/news">http://www.freep.com/article/20101111/COL04/11110609/1001/news</a><br />The ironic thing is his story anonymizes the Fox 2 reporters responsible for the story. They should not be able to hide from this.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-4908785408903716092010-11-05T10:44:00.000-04:002010-11-05T10:44:56.062-04:00WDIV: We Hated Conan First EditionDo you like late night television? WDIV historically has not. WDIV did not show Conan O'Brien at 12:35AM for most of its run (the time slot immediately following the Tonight Show, where it ran virtually everywhere). Instead, they would show syndicated programming at that time and delay Conan (and Letterman before him) to 1:35AM.<br /><br />This explains why I never watched Conan before Comedy Central began its reruns. I loved Conan on Comedy Central; it aired several times a day, always in timeslots easier to watch than 1:35AM. And when it went off Comedy Central... I went back to not watching it (until I got a DVR).<br /><br />And why? Because WDIV wanted to run Jenny Jones. And then I believe it was Springer. I think WDIV eventually dropped that schedule; but for some reason, I had been trained over a ten year period not to watch WDIV at 12:30 (other than on a DVR). Having the awful Leno as a lead in is not a help, of course, but WDIV has no one to blame but WDIV for for making the slot forgettable.<br /><br />WDIV does show Jimmy Fallon at 12:35AM now. It's Carson Daly they're screwing over, by generally showing Extra at 1:35AM, followed by... an infomercial! That's right, instead of the 1:35AM Carson Daly is everywhere else in the country, he's on at 2:35AM in Detroit. I wonder why it is I've never watched that show, which has been on for a decade? Now, it would be some innovative and sensible programming if they put Leno at 2:35AM, as the retirees who want to see him have no job to go to in the morning and I suspect are often wakeful zombies in the middle of the night; they could bump up Fallon and Daly. Or maybe some day they too will abandon WDIV for greener pastures; rememebr to watch the new Conan show beginning Monday at 11 on TBS, and cut out WDIV from the equation for added happiness.<br /><br />Stations are pretty well insulated from being contacted by the people who watch their shows, but some of the contact numbers channel 4 puts out there are 313-962-WDIV and 313-222-0500. Or you can call the "Defenders" at 313-223-CALL-4; maybe they can shove some cameras into their own studio and get something done.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-60956951276077855742010-10-31T00:01:00.000-04:002010-10-31T00:01:01.002-04:00WMYD: Trying to Make Actual Shows Into Infomercials EditionWelcome to a very special Halloween edition of Detroit Television Sucks.<br /><br />Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive In/Nightmare Sinema found its way to channel 20 in March 2008, and it was good. And by good, I don't mean "well acted" or "well made", but I do mean it was fun.<br /><br />Then it stopped being fun:<br /><br />"<i><u>From Wolfman Mac's Facebook - February 7th, 2010</u> : Were just leaving ch 20 but staying on retro television. I got a call from ch 20 this week. They wanna charge me $1,000 per week to stay on the air. I said no way will I pay to be on. I'm not an infomercial. At the moment we only have RTV but I'm working on another local broadcast..."<br /></i>(sourced from http://home.comcast.net/~ksims48/MyTV20.html )<br /><br />That's right; channel 20 wanted to treat real content like an infomercial. They don't appear to have replaced it with an infomercial tho. Which makes me wonder if Punk'd pays to put itself on the air.<br /><br />You can still see the show on channel 7's secondary digital channel, RTN7, Saturday nights at 10, no thanks to channel 7 itself (other than to the extent they're responsible for keeping a contract with RTN, which is a good thing).Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-21323933284495810672010-10-29T10:16:00.003-04:002010-10-29T10:29:14.150-04:00WDIV: Zombies Will Rise From the Grave To Destroy You EditionThe following advertisers (and NBC promos) were betrayed by WDIV and Marla Drutz by dumping their ads with Community to 1:36 AM in favor of "All 4 Halloween" last night:<br /><br />Olive Garden, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, T-Mobile G2, L'Oreal Visible Lift, HP web connected ePrint printers, Old Navy, SNL, Leno, AT&T/Blackberry, JC Penny, Energizer, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Sunday Night Football, Virg Bernero, Oral-B Power Brushes, Due Date (movie), L'Oreal Revitalift Deep Set Wrinkle Repair, Ram 150.<br /><br />Hope they're good and pissed.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-22025994987052487312010-10-28T23:39:00.002-04:002010-10-28T23:50:41.645-04:00WDIV: You Won't Fall 4 It EditionRemember, if you hate Marla Drutz and WDIV pre-empting real shows with their own badly produced crap, let their sponsors know you and others will avoid using those sponsors because of their sponsorship.<br /><br />WDIV pre-empted Community tonight with "All 4 Halloween". This was primarily sponsored by Meijer and Oakwood, who specializes in you, whatever that means.<br /><br />Others: Mazda, Gardner-White, the Dodge Journey, Chrysler Town and Country, Art Van, Family Heating, Cooling and Electrical (West and Downriver 734-422-8080, East 248 548 9565). Set decorations by Ray Wiegand's Nursery.<br /><br />So buy a Ford, get your candy at Kroger, get your table at Ikea, and give birth at Beaumont.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-54558269075374942092010-10-26T10:36:00.000-04:002011-06-04T15:10:32.674-04:00WDIV: Daytime Gameshow Preemption EditionEven viewers of daytime repeats of syndicated gameshows feel betrayed by WDIV's interruptions for infomercials.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31199">http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31199</a><br /><br />Recent schedules were similarly bad: 10/26/10 infomercial, 10/27/10 Jeopardy, 10/28/10 i, 10/29/10 J, 11/2-3/10 J, 11-4 i, 11-5 i.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-19270035342521893352010-10-25T21:19:00.005-04:002010-10-29T10:45:54.159-04:00WDIV: The Current State of Primetime Preemptions (Halloween II Edition)So, what is WDIV under the direction of Marla Drutz up to currently? Well, as it happens, they seem to have a special place in their hearts for crushing the holiday dreams of their comedy viewers. Last year, Parks and Rec's Halloween episode fell to the rusty scalpel of Minds of Medicine; this year, Community's Halloween episode (zombie based) is getting the bullet in the undead brain from something called "All 4 Halloween".<br /><br />Google shows a page on WDIV's horribly busy and hard to navigate web site with the name "All 4 Halloween"; however, it is no longer available. Quite the proud piece, when its web presence has been removed. Here's something interesting;<br />http://www.michiguide.com/archives2009/2009/10/metro-detroit-newsmakers-oct-2-4.html<br />I wonder if the new All 4 Halloween is just the one from last year? Wouldn't that just be great? It would be so in keeping with the spirit of WDIV's pre-emption; that little extra bit of pointlessness to it that really drives home the contempt WDIV seems to have for the people who actually watch shows from the network. I guess they learned it from watching NBC and the Conan fiasco.<br /><br />But hey, Community will still be on. At 1:36AM. I guess poor WDIV is still stuck with only Thursdays to jam their half hours of crap into (if you ignore 7-7:30 and 7:30-8 every weeknight, which is apparently something WDIV always chooses to ignore). Oh wait, no they're not; this Saturday, the night before Halloween, they seem to have a repeat of Scared Shrekless (which is premiering Thursday from 8-8:30) followed by a repeat of last year's Monsters Vs. Aliens Halloween special, followed by Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. How fortuitous; perhaps there is time to point out this oversight to them and they can rectify their idiotic schedule.<br /><br />Stations are pretty well insulated from being contacted by the people who watch their shows, but some of the contact numbers channel 4 puts out there are 313-962-WDIV and 313-222-0500. Or you can call the "Defenders" at 313-223-CALL-4; maybe they can shove some cameras into their own studio and get something done. <b><br /></b><br />Maybe you often see Chuck Gaidica at the gas station. Perhaps you know people who work at WDIV. Perhaps you are friends with people in the programming department. Perhaps you have leverage with Marla Drutz. Maybe you can talk sense to them. Maybe you are one of those people at WDIV, and you're reading this, and you are coming to your senses.<br /><br />No? Well, perhaps you can be sure to contact any local business sponsoring All 4 Halloween and assure them that their sponsorship of such idiotic programming means you will not be using their services or buying their products. Perhaps you can contact any sponsors WDIV bothers to leave in Community at its 1:36 AM slot and inform them that WDIV is throwing their sponsorship away to be skipped on a DVR or entirely circumvented by being watched online. I'll do my best to provide a list of them.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-75029514693029299312010-10-25T20:44:00.003-04:002010-10-29T10:41:52.423-04:00WDIV: A Recent Primetime Programming History (Summer 2010 Drama Edition)In summer 2010, WDIV preempted the thirteen episode action drama Persons Unknown three times in the eleven nights the show aired. The first pre-emption was for whatever it is they're calling the Freedom Festival fireworks now. Irritiating in such a story arc heavy show, but the fireworks are an annual tradition, and they were happening live when Persons Unknown was on.<br /><br />WDIV was not alone in treating Persons Unknown like crap; NBC itself didn't show episode 11 of 13, showing gymnastics instead. Various affiliates pre-empted some or all of the last four episodes for NFL preseason games.<br /><br />The last two preemptions in Detroit, however, did not have a live gunpowder or football excuse. Those last two WDIV pre-emptions? They were, in each case, in favor of an episode of Wheel of Fortune and an infomercial. That's right; a gameshow which is entirely self contained in any given episode and the lowest form of television programming (sure, "the lowest form of television programming and an infomercial" would have been funnier, but that's not the point), were chosen to interrupt a very short seasoned show (and the only interesting drama on NBC since the first season of Heroes) where every episode builds on what happens in the previous episode.<br /><br />The final WDIV preemption was espeically insane, as it was a pre-emption of the first half of the series finale, and didn't come up until the week before air. Keep in mind that the last two episodes were being shown back-to-back; while viewers could go online to see the missed episodes (presumably WDIV thinks everyone has broadband and a new enough computer for it), if they wanted to watch the series finale on WDIV, they had to go into the final hour of the series in the dark about the critical plot points revealed in episode 12. Because WDIV aired an infomercial and a gameshow. It's like Marla Drutz walked up to me and whispered in my ear: "Stop watching us; you'd be insane to trust us with something like The Event".<br /><br /><a href="http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/578499-persons-unknown-then-there-one-shadows-cave-08-28-10-finale.html#post10343780"><br />http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/578499-persons-unknown-then-there-one-shadows-cave-08-28-10-finale.html#post10343780</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=8ff239b0684d231004e996334d065f57&p=19113935#post19113935">http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=8ff239b0684d231004e996334d065f57&p=19113935#post19113935</a><br /><br /><a href="http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?s=e5d9a5f17cb56ca28d0d0f65968d3813&showtopic=844769&st=120&p=4455708&#entry4455708">http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?s=e5d9a5f17cb56ca28d0d0f65968d3813&showtopic=844769&st=120&p=4455708&#entry4455708</a><br /><br />Stations are pretty well insulated from being contacted by the people who watch their shows, but some of the contact numbers channel 4 puts out there are 313-962-WDIV and 313-222-0500. Or you can call the "Defenders" at 313-223-CALL-4; maybe they can shove some cameras into their own studio and get something done. <b><br /></b>Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-60931983318367976462010-10-25T19:56:00.004-04:002010-10-25T20:44:26.360-04:00WDIV: A Recent Primetime Programming History (2009 comedy edition)WDIV, channel 4 Detroit, NBC affiliate, began a notceable (to me, at least) trend in the 2009-2010 season; they began to preempt prime time network programming with increasing frequency.<br /><br />This came to my attention because they began interrupting the Thursday night comedy block, which I enjoyed three quarters of last season. Naturally, WDIV seems to find the show I can't stand on Thursday (the Office) to be uninterruptable. Specifically, the Thursday night comedy block was being interrupted last year by a non-comedy hospital based feature story (or stories; I certainly had no interest in watching the pile). I was not the only person to notice that Commuity and Parks and Rec were being interrupted.<br />Initiated regarding the November 19, 2009 pre-emption, mentioning the pre-emption a few weeks earlier of the Halloween episode of Parks and Rec, and updated for the December 3 Parks and Rec pre-emption: http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=834394<br /><br /><br />In point of fact, it turns out that this non-comedy hospital based feature story was not even from WDIV's news department. If it can be said to be from anyone at WDIV, it would be said to come from its ad department.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/section/c?template=profile&uid=140106&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=140106&plckPostId=Blog%3A140106Post%3A1de0c787-ce1c-4bf3-a0ec-ffece7e1dac0&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest">Crain's</a> (I think that post is by Bill Shea, but the layout is ambiguous; I'm going to proceed as if it is Shea who wrote it) looked into it and found the Minds of Medicine programming is an infomercial from the Henry Ford Medical Group. He felt that type of thing doesn't belong in a prime time programming block. But Shea also found the following "WDIV General Manager Marla Drutz disagrees with me and points out that there isn’t a big ratings drop-off in the Minds of Medicine slot compared to the prime time show it replaces." The blog post later goes on to say: "And the station is a victim of NBC’s lineup, which this fall provides the affiliate with 30-minute prime-time blocks only on Thursdays, Drutz said. 'Is that the right place to preempt? In a perfect world, probably not,' she said, adding that she’d prefer to have it next to a medical drama. 'We try to be real strategic about it and not hit the same show twice. I know if you’re a viewer of the show, it doesn’t matter.'<br />Drutz also pointed out that the Henry Ford content isn’t some run-of-the-mill informerical: 'We’re proud to air it. It’s produced like a network-quality program,' she said. "<br /><br />Phenomenal work there, Marla. Way to support the people who want to watch the actual shows you have instead of the easily confused who think an infomercial from a private company is instead the journalism it's trying to pass itself off as.<br /><br />Stations are pretty well insulated from being contacted by the people who watch their shows, but some of the contact numbers channel 4 puts out there are 313-962-WDIV and 313-222-0500. Or you can call the "Defenders" at 313-223-CALL-4; maybe they can shove some cameras into their own studio and get something done. <b><br /></b>Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204820927565956399.post-51688726664209266152010-10-25T19:43:00.000-04:002010-10-25T19:50:58.237-04:00Detroit Television SucksDo you live in the Detroit television market? Have you noticed that the Detroit affiliates seem to have the programming acumen of a rotten potato? Congratulations! You too have been screwed over by Detroit television! From the idiocy of "problem solver" style non-news to interrupting programming for infomercials, Detroit television truly sucks. Feel free to mention how it specifically sucks in a comment to any given post on this blog, because you too can point out just how badly any given local station is making the local airwaves reek.Tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783618617749580841noreply@blogger.com0